Adam Begs Not to Be Fed Like Grazing Cattle

Midrash Aggadah Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 3:18 View source

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 5, 2025

The curse of thorns and thistles arrives, and for the first time in the story, Adam argues back.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 3:18) has Adam pray: "I pray, through mercies from before Thee, O Lord, that we may not be accounted as the cattle, to eat the herb of the face of the field. Let us stand up, and labour with the labour of the hands, and eat food of the food of the earth; and thus let there be distinction before Thee, between the children of men and the offspring of cattle."

Adam's petition is not to escape the curse. It is to keep his dignity inside it. He does not ask for Eden back. He asks that humanity not be reduced to grazing on grass like livestock. Let us work, he pleads — let us bake bread, cultivate grain, produce food that is human food, made with effort. Let there be a visible difference between human beings and the animals.

The origin of bread

This is the Targumist's account of why humans eat bread. It is not a natural fact. It is a divine concession to human prayer. Adam asked for the right to labor, and God granted it. Every loaf on a Shabbat table descends from this single prayer in the garden — a request for dignified work as a mark of the image of God.

Themes

Adam & Eve Humility Prayer Ethics Eden

Biblical References

Genesis 3:18

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